After a week of some unseasonably warm weather and some driving rain, the half foot of snow that was on the trails of Northern New Jersey just six days ago was
completely gone this morning. We headed back to the Pequannock Watershed to hike some trails we hadn't done before. We love the watershed. The fact that you need
a permit to hike in this area guarantees that trail traffic will be light (unlike, say, Harriman where the multitude of parked cars emanating from Reeves Vistor's
Center on weekends boggles the mind).
Today we did a beautiful circuit that visited the Bearfort Fire Tower. We visited this tower way back in 2007. There are four parallel trails that run approximately north to south along Bearfort Mountain in this area (between Stephens Road and Van Orden Road). At that time we parked in parking area P1, headed north along Hank's West trail, then returned on the Hank's East trail. Today we parked in P2 (a small pull-off on Clinton Road) and took the other two trails: the Fire Tower West trail north and then the Fire Tower Ridge trail back. One of the highlights today was the amazingly well-preserved circular stone water tower which provided water to the Cross Castle which used to stand just south. After getting home, and checking the NYNJTC website, I realized that the hike posted on 7/17/2008 describes the exact same hike, only in the opposite (counter clock-wise) direction. Total distance hiked today was 5 miles, in just under 3.5 hours. As indicated, a permit is required for hiking in this area, which can be purchased at the office on Echo Lake Road. The permits are good for the calendar year.
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Trailhead at P2 |
No Trespassing without permit |
[Photo by Laura] |
Moss ... |
... which I love! |
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Seasonal view SW |
[Photo by Laura] |
Heading north on yellow |
Steady ascent |
Laura & Mountain Laurel |
Ridge west of Clinton Reservoir |
Time to de-layer |
Seasonal views ... |
... to the west |
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Beautiful rock formation |
Huge boulder ... |
... jumble off trail |
[Photo by Laura] |
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Icy stream |
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Puddingstone |
Busy intersection |
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[Photo by Laura] |
Swamp area before ... |
... final ascent |
Beginning the climb |
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Steady ascent |
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Whaleback |
Covered with fungus! |
Open view west |
Partial view of Cedar Pond |
Cedar Pond |
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On the ridge |
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First view of tower |
Jersey Highlands blaze |
Tower sign |
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Wind speed meter |
View up [photo by Laura] |
View south |
Partial views east |
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Fire Tower Ridge trail |
Quartz |
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Winding ridge |
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Swamp west of ridge |
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Ascending |
Rotted from inside |
Cairns |
Glacial erratic |
View east |
Views east ... |
... from cairn-lined ... |
... spur trail ... |
... to viewpoint |
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Ridges SE |
Partial views ... |
... of Hank's Pond |
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First views ... |
... of water tower |
Built in 1905 ... |
... the stonework ... |
... is amazingly ... |
... well-preserved |
Site of Cross Castle (now gone) |
Huge mushroom |
Road to castle site |
Mountain Laurel |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |